Development of a seal rehabilitation and marine science facility's seawater and life support system

Abstract

A unique shallow V-shaped Marine Science, Education and Research Center, combining a seal rehabilitation facility on one side and marine science education and research on the other, was designed and built for the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. The floor area of both wings is 27,550 ft 2 (2560 m 2) on two floors and, in addition to seawater facilities, also includes classrooms, offices and laboratories. Seawater (capability of 500 gpm, 1890 lpm, sustained flowrate) is taken from a tidal saltwater wedge that comes in to the mouth of the Saco River. This tidal pumping system is based on a minimum of 3 h of pumping per tidal cycle. The seawater is pumped to a large storage tank (550,000 gal, 2.08×10 6 l) and then distributed. The bio-secured seal rehabilitation facility is allotted 200 gpm (760 lpm), has five internal seal quarantine areas, is designed to support 1200 lb (545 kg) of seal biomass and comprises 4950 square ft 2 (460 m 2) within the biosecurity area. The marine science wing is fairly conventional with wet and dry laboratories, offices and classrooms, is designed for a marine biomass of 350 lbs (159 kg) and has a total of 5590 ft 2 (520 m 2) of indoor wet laboratories, including directly supportive preparation, equipment and storage spaces, divided into three separate wet laboratories of about equal area. There is also an outdoor test area (concrete pad with services and central drain) that adds an additional 1152 ft 2 (107 m 2) of wet laboratory area. Seawater system considerations of establishing the design criteria, assuring seawater supply, bioengineering, biosecurity, system monitoring/control and design data voids are discussed.